Legislative Assembly of Alberta

The Legislative Assembly of Alberta (French: Assemblée législative de l'Alberta) is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. Since 2012 the Legislative Assembly has had 87 members, elected first past the post from single-member electoral districts.[1] Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal assent by the lieutenant governor of Alberta, as the viceregal representative of the King of Canada.[2] The Legislative Assembly and the Lieutenant Governor together make up the unicameral Alberta Legislature.

Legislative Assembly of Alberta
31st Alberta Legislature
Type
Type	Unicameral house of the Alberta Legislature
History
Founded	September 9, 1905 (1905-09-09)
Preceded by	North-West Legislative Assembly
Leadership
Speaker	Nathan Cooper, UCP since May 30, 2019
Premier	Danielle Smith, UCP since October 11, 2022
Government House Leader	Joseph Schow, UCP since October 24, 2022
Opposition Leader	Rachel Notley, NDP since April 30, 2019
Opposition House Leader	Christina Gray, NDP since February 8, 2021
Structure
Seats	87
Political groups	Government   United Conservative (48) Official Opposition   New Democratic (38) Independent   Independent (1)
Elections
Last election	May 29, 2023
Next election	On or before May 31, 2027
Meeting place
Alberta Legislature Building, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Website
assembly.ab.ca

The maximum period between general elections of the assembly, as set by Section 4 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is five years, which is further reinforced in Alberta's Legislative Assembly Act.[3] Convention dictates the premier controls the date of election and usually selects a date in the fourth or fifth year after the preceding election. Amendments to Alberta's Elections Act introduced in 2021 fixed the date of election to between the last Monday in May in the fourth calendar year following the preceding election.[4] Alberta has never had a minority government and an election as a result of a vote of no confidence has never occurred.

To be a candidate for election to the assembly, a person must be a Canadian citizen older than 18 who has lived in Alberta for at least six months before the election and has registered with Elections Alberta under the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act. Senators, senators-in-waiting, members of the House of Commons, and criminal inmates are ineligible.[5]

The 30th Alberta Legislature was dissolved on May 1, 2023. The members-elect of the 31st Alberta Legislature were elected on May 29.